Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $3.9286.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on PLRX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Wall Street Zen raised Pliant Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Pliant Therapeutics from $17.00 to $4.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Pliant Therapeutics in a report on Sunday, August 10th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PLRX. Cormorant Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Pliant Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $4,050,000. Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Pliant Therapeutics by 1,875.0% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,514,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,394,000 after buying an additional 2,386,789 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Pliant Therapeutics by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,130,489 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,153,000 after buying an additional 172,056 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Pliant Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,642,000. Finally, Peapod Lane Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Pliant Therapeutics by 22.7% in the third quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 1,097,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,624,000 after acquiring an additional 203,298 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.30% of the company’s stock.

Pliant Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of PLRX stock opened at $1.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.23 million, a PE ratio of -0.58 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 13.94 and a quick ratio of 12.99. Pliant Therapeutics has a one year low of $1.10 and a one year high of $15.80.

Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.53) by $0.10. As a group, research analysts forecast that Pliant Therapeutics will post -3.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Pliant Therapeutics Company Profile

Pliant Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of fibrosis and related diseases in the United States. The company's lead candidate is bexotegrast, an oral, small-molecule, dual selective inhibitor of avß6 and avß1 integrins, which is in phase 2b trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and in phase 2a trial for primary sclerosing cholangitis.